Episode Title Cards

An Episode Title Card is the unique graphic used at or near the beginning of ABC's Once Upon a Time beginning with the second episode of the first season. One is also used near the beginning of every episode of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland.

The Episode Title Cards feature a character, creature, location or item featured (or not) in the episode. This unique graphic appears under the Once Upon a Time title in the blue forest, the red forest, or in a Wonderland red and white chessboard surrounded by mushrooms and with a mountainous background, under the Once Upon a Time in Wonderland title.

View the title card gallery here.

Once Upon a Time

Season One

"Pilot" is the only episode of Season One to not feature a title card. It instead features four slides that set the premise for the series. The subsequent episodes and their featured item are listed below:

• "The Thing You Love Most": Maleficent's Unicorn
• "Snow Falls": A Bridge Troll
• "The Price of Gold": Cinderella's Fairy Godmother
• "That Still Small Voice": Rumplestiltskin's spinning wheel
• "The Shepherd": A Dragon
• "The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter": The Wolf
• "Desperate Souls": The Dark One riding a horse
• "True North": The Blind Witch's Gingerbread House
• "7:15 A.M.": Red Riding Hood
• "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree": The Genie of Agrabah
• "Skin Deep": Rumplestiltskin's spinning wheel
• "What Happened to Frederick": Frederick as a golden statue
• "Dreamy": The Seven Dwarves walking
• "Red-Handed": Red Riding Hood
• "Heart of Darkness": Jiminy Cricket
• "Hat Trick": Wonderland's mushrooms and flying birds
• "The Stable Boy": A woman riding a horse (possibly either Snow White or Regina)
• "The Return": August Booth riding his motorcycle
• "The Stranger": Jiminy Cricket
• "An Apple Red as Blood": Snow White walking with the Seven Dwarves
• "A Land Without Magic": The Dark Curse

Season Two

Every episode of Season Two feature a title card tailored to the episode. Two images from Season One, that of Red Riding Hood and that of Rumplestiltskin's spinning wheel, have been reused, alongside twenty new slides.

• "Broken": The Wraith
• "We Are Both": Enchanted branches
• "Lady of the Lake": Lancelot
• "The Crocodile": The Jolly Roger
• "The Doctor": Lightning in the Land Without Color
• "Tallahassee": A growing beanstalk
• "Child of the Moon": Red Riding Hood
• "Into the Deep": Cora's heartless victims rising from the ground
• "Queen of Hearts": Geyser rising from the dry bed of Lake Nostos
• "The Cricket Game": Pongo
• "The Outsider": The Yaoguai
• "In the Name of the Brother": Rumplestiltskin in the Land Without Color
• "Tiny": Anton ripping a tree out of the forest
• "Manhattan": Manhattan skyline
• "The Queen is Dead": The Storybrooke Free Public Library
• "The Miller's Daughter": Rumplestiltskin's spinning wheel
• "Welcome to Storybrooke": A tree falling on Kurt Flynn's truck
• "Selfless, Brave and True": August's trailer
• "Lacey": Robin Hood releasing an arrow
• "The Evil Queen": The Evil Queen's palace
• "Second Star to the Right": Elizabeth Tower in London
• "And Straight On 'Til Morning": Neverland

Season Three

The majority of Season Three's title cards featured a slightly altered forest background, however, the reason for this has not been confirmed.

• "The Heart of the Truest Believer": Henry and Peter Pan in flight
• "Lost Girl": The fake Excalibur resting in a stone
• "Quite a Common Fairy": Tinker Bell
• "Nasty Habits": A Lost Boy dancing around a bonfire
• "Good Form": The Jolly Roger
• "Ariel": Ariel sitting on a rock
• "Dark Hollow": Storybrooke Free Public Library
• "Think Lovely Thoughts": Skull Rock
• "Save Henry": The Shadow
• "The New Neverland": Medusa
• "Going Home": Emma's car driving through the forest, surrounded by the Dark Curse's green mist
• "New York City Serenade": New York City night time skyline
• "Witch Hunt": The Wicked Witch of the West on her broomstick
• "The Tower": Rapunzel's tower
• "Quiet Minds": Lumiere's lit candle stick
• "It's Not Easy Being Green": The Wizard's four geysers of fire
• "The Jolly Roger": David's truck
• "Bleeding Through": A cyclone
• "A Curious Thing": A flying monkey
• "Kansas": The Emerald City
• "Snow Drifts": Zelena's Time Travel Spell
• "There's No Place Like Home": A swan

Season Four

Every title card of the first half of Season Four features the forest background with falling snow. The title card for "A Tale of Two Sisters" is the generic form of subsequent title cards until "Heroes and Villains".

• "A Tale of Two Sisters": A snowfall
• "White Out ": The ice wall created by Elsa
• "Rocky Road": Any Given Sundae
• "The Apprentice": The Apprentice's enchanted broom
• "Breaking Glass": The ice staircase created by Elsa
• "Family Business": Ingrid's ice cream truck
• "The Snow Queen": The kite found by Ingrid, Helga and Gerda
• "Smash the Mirror": Emma's car driving through the forest
• "Fall": Gerda and her husband's shipwreck, and Gerda's message in a bottle
• "Shattered Sight": A blizzard
• "Heroes and Villains": A Magic Door aspiring the snow fall
• "Darkness on the Edge of Town": Cruella De Vil's car
• "Unforgiven": Maleficent's dragon form
• "Enter the Dragon": The tree burnt by Maleficent
• "Poor Unfortunate Soul": Ursula
• "Best Laid Plans": Maleficent's Unicorn
• "Heart of Gold": The Emerald City
• "Sympathy for the De Vil": A pack of dalmatians running through the forest
• "Lily": Emma's car driving through the forest
• "Mother": Lily's dragon form
• "Operation Mongoose Part 1": Emma's tower prison
• "Operation Mongoose Part 2": A swan

Season Five

From "Souls of the Departed" to "Firebird", every title card features the forest background, but the color is red instead of blue to reflect the Underworld.

• "The Dark Swan": Granny's Diner
• "The Price": Merlin's tree
• "Siege Perilous": Brocéliande
• "The Broken Kingdom": Merlin's Tower
• "Dreamcatcher": A pumpkin
• "The Bear and the Bow": An arrow shot through the "O" in "Once"
• "Nimue": A field of Middlemist Flowers
• "Birth": The darkness rising from the Vault of the Dark One
• "The Bear King": Merida riding a horse
• "Broken Heart": The Jolly Roger
• "Swan Song": A group of Dark Ones
• "Souls of the Departed": The fallen clock tower from the Underworld
• "Labor of Love": The Underworld Cemetery
• "Devil's Due": Hook hanging from a chain
• "The Brothers Jones": The Jewel of the Realm
• "Our Decay": Munchkins
• "Her Handsome Hero": An ogre running through the forest
• "Ruby Slippers": Ruby
• "Sisters": The Underground Mill
• "Firebird": Emma's car driving through the forest
• "Last Rites": Storybrooke Town Hall
• "Only You": The Once Upon a Time logo on a flying dirigible
• "An Untold Story": No special feature

Season Six

• "The Savior": Jafar flying through the forest on his carpet
• "A Bitter Draught": The Evil Queen's palace
• "The Other Shoe": Gus running in the "O" in "Once"
• "Strange Case": Elizabeth Tower in London
• "Street Rats": The hour glass used by Jafar to trap Jasmine
• "Dark Waters": A kraken
• "Heartless": Wilby
• "I'll Be Your Mirror": The World Behind the Mirror
• "Changelings": The swingset in the Dream World
• "Wish You Were Here": The statue of King David and Queen Snow in the Wish Realm
• "Tougher Than the Rest": An Enchanted Tree
• "Murder Most Foul": Pleasure Island's ferris wheel
• "Ill-Boding Patterns": An ogre
• "Page 23": The Evil Queen's palace
• "A Wondrous Place": The Flying Carpet in the woods
• "Mother's Little Helper": The forest covered in spiderwebs
• "Awake": A closing magic door
• "Where Bluebirds Fly": The Emerald City
• "The Black Fairy": Tiger Lily, Fiona, and the Blue Fairy in flight
• "The Song in Your Heart": An orchestra
• "The Final Battle Part 1": The Seattle Center Monorail (original airing and Blu-ray/DVD version) / A growing Beanstalk (iTunes/streaming version)
• "The Final Battle Part 2": No special feature (original airing and Blu-ray/DVD version) / The Seattle Center Monorail (iTunes/streaming version)

Season Seven

Breaking from a traditional cut to the title card, the card zooms out from inside the "O" in "Once" to show the Seattle skyline in the background of the forest. The title card for "Hyperion Heights" is the generic form of subsequent title cards (except for "The Guardian", "Homecoming", and "Leaving Storybrooke").

• "Hyperion Heights": Seattle skyline
• "A Pirate's Life": A swan
• "The Garden of Forking Paths": An excavator
• "Beauty": Gravestones, jack-o-lanterns, and other Halloween decor
• "Greenbacks": A fire truck
• "Wake Up Call": Gothel's Tower in good condition
• "Eloise Gardener": The entrance to Gothel's Garden and the garden gnome
• "Pretty in Blue": New Wonderland's mushrooms
• "One Little Tear": Anastasia's floating lanterns
• "The Eighth Witch": San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid
• "Secret Garden": Madame Leota in the "O" of "Once"
• "A Taste of the Heights": The Rollin' Bayou
• "Knightfall": The head of Ivy's doll in the "O" of "Once"
• "The Girl in the Tower": The Troll's statue form
• "Sisterhood": The Flynn's Barcade sign
• "Breadcrumbs": The Jolly Roger
• "Chosen": The Gingerbread House
• "The Guardian": The word "Once" formed by flowers
• "Flower Child": A carriage
• "Is This Henry Mills?": Regina's car
• "Homecoming": A fiery portal replacing the "O" in "Once"
• "Leaving Storybrooke" : A "Leaving Storybrooke" road sign.

Specials

From "Magic is Coming" to "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over", the specials used the traditional series title card format which feature the special's title beneath the Once Upon a Time logo. The title cards for "Wicked is Coming" and "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over" featured the generic form of the forest background used in the majority of Season Three's title cards.

Starting from "Evil Reigns Once More", the specials used a new specialized title card design with the special's title centred on-screen and a small Once Upon a Time logo above the special's title.

"Dark Swan Rises" used a unique design that does not follow either title card convention.

• "Magic is Coming": The Dark Curse
• "The Price of Magic": The Dark Curse
• "Journey to Neverland": Neverland
• "Wicked is Coming": No special feature
• "Storybrooke Has Frozen Over": No special feature
• "Secrets of Storybrooke": Overgrown branches and flying butterflies
• "Dark Swan Rises": Specialized title card
• "Evil Reigns Once More": Specialized title card
• "The Final Battle Begins": Specialized title card

Others

Promotional Title Cards

Several unique title cards have been used for televised promotional purposes for individual episodes and each Season Four onwards season/storyline. These have been paired with sneak previews and other promotional trailers for their respective season:

• "Ariel": The Once Upon a Time logo underwater
• Season 4A: A snow-covered forest with a golden Once Upon a Time logo covered in ice
• Season 4B: A forest filled with overgrown grass and vines
• Season 5A: A black swan on a lake with Camelot Castle in the background
• Season 5A: A target

Note: The title card with a target was only used at San Diego Comic-Con for Merida's promotion and has not been used for any other purposes.

Unused Title Cards

There are several title cards unused on-screen that have been released:

• A white horse
• A male and a female on horseback
• Mulan
• Aurora pricking her finger on a spinning wheel

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

• "Down the Rabbit Hole": No special feature
• "Trust Me": Silvermist flying
• "Forget Me Not": The Forget Me Knot replacing the "O" in "Once"
• "The Serpent": A cobra
• "Heart of Stone": The Red Queen's carriage
• "Who's Alice": A flower from Boro Grove
• "Bad Blood": A dragon
• "Home": The White Rabbit
• "Nothing to Fear": The Jabberwocky's tower prison
• "Dirty Little Secrets": Well of Wonders
• "Heart of the Matter": Jafar's serpent staff
• "To Catch a Thief": The Queen of Hearts' vault
• "And They Lived...": The White Rabbit

Trivia

• Several title cards have been reused for regular episodes:
  • Maleficent's Unicorn was used for "The Thing You Love Most" and "Best Laid Plans"
  • Rumplestiltskin's spinning wheel was used for "That Still Small Voice","Skin Deep" and "The Miller's Daughter".
  • Red Riding Hood was used for "7:15 A.M.", "Red-Handed", "Child of the Moon" and "Ruby Slippers".
  • Jiminy Cricket was used for "Heart of Darkness" and "The Stranger".
  • The Jolly Roger was used for "The Crocodile", "Good Form", "Broken Heart" and "The Brothers Jones" (under her former name the Jewel of the Realm).
  • The Storybrooke Free Public Library was used for "The Queen Is Dead" and "Dark Hollow". However, its appearance is identical to that in "Pilot" with a different sign.
    • The library's damaged Underworld counterpart was used for "Souls of the Departed".
  • The New York City skyline was used for "Manhattan" and "New York City Serenade".
  • The Emerald City was used for "Kansas", "Heart of Gold" and "Where Bluebirds Fly".
  • The animation of Maleficent's dragon form in "Unforgiven" was reused from the Dragon in title card of Once Upon a Time in Wonderland's episode, "Bad Blood"; however, the backgrounds are different to match the respective series.
  • Emma's car driving through the forest was used for "Smash the Mirror" and "Lily" while an slightly altered variant with a green hue was used for "Going Home" and a red Underworld hue for "Firebird".
  • The swan title card was used for "There's No Place Like Home" and "Operation Mongoose Part 2".
    • The graphics and music used for the Once Upon a Time logo in the swan title card is different in the broadcast version and the online release version of its respective episodes. The original title card is used for broadcast versions of "There's No Place Like Home" and "Operation Mongoose Part 2", however for online releases, the title cards for "Snow Drifts" and "Operation Mongoose Part 1" are respectively used instead.
  • The woman riding a horse was used for "The Stable Boy" (representing either Snow White or Regina) and "The Bear King" (representing Merida).
  • The Evil Queen's palace was used for "The Evil Queen", "A Bitter Draught" and "Page 23".
  • Elizabeth Tower was used for "Second Star to the Right", representing London, and "Strange Case", representing Victorian England.
  • The Magic door with Arendelle crocuses was used for "Heroes and Villains", where it aspired the surrounding snowfall, and "Awake" where it simply closed.
  • The Beanstalk was used for "Tallahassee" and "The Final Battle Part 1".
• The White Rabbit was used for "Home" and "And They Lived...", but the animation differed between title cards.